Stopper remover



June 8,1926.- 1,587,988

W. W. PHELPS STOPPER REMOVER Filed Jan. 14, 1925 Patented June 8, 1926 winLrAM 'w. PHELPS; or Los AfiG- ELES oam romvrar s'r'orrnn nnmovnn.

dnppl icati on filed January 14', 1925. Serial No. 2,265,

This invention relates to stopper removers of'the ty ae employed for removing card'- hoard sealing disksor stoppers from bottles containing milk or other liquids. v

An object of the invention is to provide an inexpensive device of this character so that it can be sold at a very low price.

Another object is to make provision for clamping the disk stopper in the stopper remover so that there will be no tender i-cy for the stopper to accidentally fall off of the remover after the stopper has been reinove'd from the bottle.

device.

Another object is to construct the device so that it will be trating the disk.

Another object is toiconstruct the device so as to prevent, during the act of penetrat ing the disk, pressingo'f the disk down into the liquid in the bottle and thereby cause the Stll'lefo Splash- I v 7 Another object is to provide a device of thischaracter that can be made entirely of wire or sheet metal.

Other objects 7 and "ad'vaniarg'es will appear inthe' subjoined detailed description. v v The accompanying drawingsi'llustrate the invention j Fig. 1 is" a perspective view of a'stopper remover constructed in accordance with the provisions" of this invention. V

Fig. 2' is a longitudinal View of thestopper remover in position on the top of a bottie for engaging the disk stopper which is also shown.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal view 01": the stopper remover attached to the stopper disk which is shown in place on the top of a bottle.

Fig. 4. is a perspective view of another form of the invention. a

Fig. 5 is a 'fragmental longitudinal section' of the device shown in Fig. 4.

Referring first to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, there is provided a penetrating member 4:, preferably having a sharpened end as indicated at 5. The sharpened end 5 is preferably bent downward so that, as the device is moved across the top of the bottle, the point will be thrust downwardly and-will penetrate the disk cardboard stopper, indicated at a in Figs. 2 and 3. v

The member 4 connects with a handle 6 of somewhat oval shape and there is pro- This makes it easy to replace the stopper on the bottle with the "yiel dingly held-toward the member 7-.

guided while it is pone "vid ed a member or ring 7 beneath the lower portion of the handle 6. connectedto" said handle. The'plane of the handle is her '7'.

Preferably the circular member 7 rests against the underside of the lower portion at a right angle to the plane of the m m-- of the" handlefi, and, in its normal position,

the member 4 pressesupwardly against the underside of the circular member. Thus-the members 4;, p ccnstitute clamping ji aw's. The member. t' s made emeta1i that" has" more or less spring character to it so thati-t is Preferably the members 4, 6 and? are of integral construction, being formed from a single piece of Wire, preferably galvanized iron w re.

' In this instance, member 45 is slightly curved downward between its ends and con n'ects' at one end with one end of the member 6- whic'h is in the: form of a loop and the other end ofthe' member 6 connects with one end of the circular member The opposite end of said circular member is bent into aneye 8 through which the member 6 passes.

It will-fbe readily understood,"without 'f u r' ther illustration, that the members 4, 6' and? may be connected together in ad i'lferent manner than just described, by bending the wiredifferently.

The handle 6- extends beyond the point of the penetrating member 4, as indicated at) lit);

and is provided adjacent to the circular member 7 with an upwardly bent portion 9 so that, when the device is positioned as Fig. 2 the handle portion lO -will rest-upon one side of the top in order that, when the device is moved further into engagement with the disk at, the handle 6 will properly clear the bottle top to permit the member 4: to slide beneath thedisk;

' To use the invention described above, the fingers of one hand of the operator will be inserted through the handle 6 and the upper portion of the handle will be grasped thereby, and. the device will then be moved lat erally across the top of the bottle 6 to the position shown in Fig.2, thus bringing the handle portion 10 against the bottle top and, consequently, limiting downward thrust of the jaws 4, 7 This movement causes the jaw to penetrate the disk at, and the operator will move the device still further to the left in Fig. 2 to move the jaw 7 into position approximately central of the disk a, as in Fig. 3. In this position of the device, the disk a will be firmly clamped between the jaws 4, 7

. To remove the dislgthe operator will pry upwardly on the handle so as to contact the handle on the right side of the bottle top in Fig. 3 with said top and swing the left end of the handle rearwardl'y and upwardly. This loosens the disk first atone side of the bottleneck and the disk will remain attached to the device. tents of the bottle has been poured out, the disk may be returned to position to seal the bottle by bringing the device into position with the disk a above the neck of the bottle and then pressing downward, thus causing the member 7 to press uniformly upon the disk to properly seat said disk in the bottle neck. The device may then be withdrawn from the disk by moving it to the right in Fig. 2. Or, if the bottle is emptied, the

I of the bottle when the point is penetrating disk will not be replaced on the bottle and it may be readily slipped from betweenthe jawse, 7 by grasping itedgewise between.

the fingers and thumb and pulling it'out of its clamped position.

It is to be particularly noted that the oval loop handle is of materially greater length than the outside diameter of the mouth of the bottle so that said handle will engage and slide upon opposite portions of the rim the disk stopper in the mouth of the bottle,

as in Fig. 2, to limit pressure of the clamp-' ing member upon the stopper and thus prevent squirting out of the milk from beneath the stopper as. would occur if the stopper were forced farther into the neck of the bottle. Also the lower side of the handle is provided with the upwardly bent portion 10 in advance of the penetrating point and with anotherupwardly bent portion 11 rearwardly ofthe penetrating member so that such portions will lie immediately over and slightly spaced from the bottle rim when the After a portion of the con Figs. 4 and 5, the device is stamped from sheet metal and the parts that function the same as those previously described for Figs. 1 to 3 are indicated by thesame reference characters, with the addition of the letter atlixes a. The penetrating member t, in this instance, is stamped from the member 7* that is in the form of a disk and that constitutes the upper clamping jaw. The upper portion of the handle 6; is downwardly convex transversely of the handle so as to fit the hand of the person using the device. i

I claim: a

A stopper remover comprising a clampingmember of slightly less diameter than the inside diameter of the mouth of a standard milk bottle, a pointed penetrating member connected at one endwith the clamping member and normally lying on one side of the plane of the clamping member, and an oval loop handle on the other side of said plane at aright angle to said plane and of materially greater length than the outside diameter of the mouth of said bottle to engage and slide upon opposite portions of the WILLIAM w. PHELPS. 

